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› Novinky › MOTORSPORT FESTIVAL AT THE LAUSITZRING – OBJECTIVE: TO EXTEND THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

MOTORSPORT FESTIVAL AT THE LAUSITZRING – OBJECTIVE: TO EXTEND THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

30.5.2016

31.

May 2016

Stuttgart

DTM and ADAC GT Masters together at the Lausitzring: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM and Mercedes-AMG GT3 on a double mission

Paul Di Resta travels to the third race weekend of the season at the Lausitzring as championship leader on 43 points, three ahead of Edoardo Mortara

The Lausitzring has so far been a happy hunting ground for the team: eleven wins, more than any other manufacturer on this track

Sharing the weekend billing with the DTM at the Lausitzring is the ADAC GT Masters in which Mercedes-AMG DTM driver Maximilian Götz won the 2012 title driving a Mercedes-AMG race gullwing

Ulrich Fritz: “It would obviously be fantastic if we finished the weekend with a Mercedes on top in both series. However, the ultimate aim is to extend our championship lead and score as many points as possible.”

Comments ahead of the DTM races at Lausitzring

Paul Di Resta (30, Scotland):

Car number: 3

Team: Mercedes-AMG (Mercedes-AMG DTM Team HWA)

Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“I’m really eager to get back behind the wheel again at the Lausitzring. I’m obviously hoping for a better weekend than the most recent one at Spielberg. The Lausitzring has certainly been good for us in the past. Nevertheless, we have a real challenge ahead of us. The objective is to extend my championship lead and reward the guys on the team for all their hard work. At the moment, there is a lot of tension between the drivers, which has spilled over from the track. But it’s entertaining for the fans and shows that we have plenty of real personalities in the DTM.”

Robert Wickens (27, Canada):

Car number: 6

Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy / UBFS invest Mercedes-AMG

(Mercedes-AMG DTM Team HWA)

Car: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“Spielberg was a bit of a disaster for us. For some reason, we didn’t get it together in qualifying. I think that, if we had started from further forward, we could have come away with quite a few points. Now we’re off to the Lausitzring. I’m feeling upbeat about the weekend. I’m fast, and I’ve already put in some good race performances this season. If we get our act together in qualifying, we can once again produce some decent results this weekend.”

“I’m heading for the Lausitzring in the hope that we can get back to the form we showed at Hockenheim. We had problems at Spielberg, but I’m optimistic that we can once again produce the kind of performance at the Lausitzring that we expect of ourselves. I was disappointed about Timo Scheider’s overtaking move at Spielberg, because it robbed me of a points finish that I felt I deserved. I think that there should be more consistent penalties for this kind of thing in future. If we come across each other again on the Lausitzring track, I hope that the outcome will be fairer this time.”

Christian Vietoris (27, Germany):

Car number: 8

Team: BWT Mercedes-AMG (Mercedes-AMG DTM Team Mücke)

Car: BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“I’m looking forward to the coming weekend. In recent years at the Lausitzring, I’ve managed to finish on the podium a few times. For that reason, it’s definitely one of my favourite tracks. It’s unfortunate, but I must say in all honesty that the track doesn’t suit our car quite as much as in previous seasons. After the great result in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, however, I’ll be arriving at the Lausitzring feeling confident. The race on the Nordschleife was obviously fantastic, although I have to say that our second place is one of the unluckiest of my career. It’s extremely frustrating to lose out on the final lap.”

Maximilian Götz (30, Germany):

Car number: 84

Team: Mercedes-AMG (Mercedes-AMG DTM Team HWA)

Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“A podium finish after one of the toughest races in the world – not bad for a ‘clown’, I would say. I hope that I can take the momentum from this result forward to the Lausitzring. I feel like I’ m at the top of my game. I’m fully motivated and my self-confidence has been boosted. The Lausitzring actually suits me nicely, and my performance there last year wasn’t at all bad. We now need to build on the race pace that we demonstrated at Spielberg and at last deliver in qualifying. The points will then be there for the taking. I think this weekend is definitely going to be a first-class motorsport spectacle for the fans, with the GT Masters and the motorcycle guys also featuring on the bill. For me, the anticipation of the weekend is immense.”

“I'm heading to the Lausitzring well prepared. I had a meeting in Andorra on Monday. Without thinking too much about it, I simply decided to go there by bike. I had a good workout and it was perfect preparation for the race weekend. The Lausitzring is a huge challenge, still, it's a great track. The tarmac is not flat but has lots of bumps, so you have to play around a lot with the setup. However I'm very confident that the circuit will suit our new car.“

Lucas Auer (21, Austria):

Car number: 22

Team: BWT Mercedes-AMG (Mercedes-AMG DTM Team Mücke)

Car: BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“The Lausitzring is the home track for my team, Mücke Motorsport. Consequently, we are all very much looking forward to the weekend. In any case, I hope that this home fixture goes better for my team than the Spielberg weekend went for me personally. The fact that it is combined with the GT Masters and other support series makes this event a special occasion for the fans. Last weekend, I called in on the guys who were competing in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. It was really cool, and I was delighted that Mercedes left all the others standing. It would be great if this weekend went the same way.”

“The Lausitzring is something of an unknown quantity for me. I’v e never competed in any races there, and my knowledge of the track is restricted to a couple of laps in a race taxi! That means I have to be ready to discover a lot of new things at the weekend. In the run-up, I’ll be going through all the available video recordings and data with my team. I’m sure that we will arrive at the Lausitzring well prepared. Now I’m looking forward to turning the tide and achieving a better result than at Spielberg. The start of the season has been tough, but we’ll be doing everything we can to get to the top, because that’s the target we’ve set ourselves.”

Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG DTM:

“The race weekend at the Lausitzring is certainly going to be an absolutely marvellous occasion for the fans. The DTM and GT Masters are coming together on one circuit, so that can justifiably be described as a motorsport festival. It would obviously be fantastic if we finished the weekend with a Mercedes on top in both series. In any case, we’ve put Spielberg behind us. At the Lausitzring, we’l l be doing our level best to be out at the front again. The ultimate aim is, of course, to extend our championship lead and score as many points as possible.”